As I’ve been learning how to weave, I very quickly came across the axiom: “THEY say that you can’t weave with handspun yarn, but THEY are wrong.”
And instead of scoffing at THEM for being judgmental and stupid, I was immediately all, “Who are THEY and why do THEY say that?” For some reason, people don’t seem to like me much, lmao.
Through research, I learned the truth. Good for me.
In terms of personal weaving, you have basically three types of looms: Inkle, rigid heddle, and shaft, in order of complexity. All three of them work by putting vertical yarns (called the warp) under tension and weaving back and forth horizontally between them (the weft). With inkle and rigid heddle looms, you can definitely use handspun yarn for both the warp and the weft: if it can be tensioned, it can be used (side note for “sticky” sheds that I’m not getting into right now).
Now, I haven’t used a shaft loom — they are expensive, and I’m just a poor sod surviving in the midst of an economic crash/the end of the world. But, the word on the street is that they are quite harsh on the warp threads.
So, THEY were talking about shaft looms, where you are much more likely to break a warp yarn through friction. Heck, THEY even recommend using a humidifier when working with linen because it’s stronger when wet, and we’re not kidding around here.
And it’s rather disingenuous to act like the advice was intended for rigid heddle looms, purely for the sake of appearing smarter. Just sayin’.
Now we’re all enlightened.
byautumnrain.com
By Autumn Rain 